I would go with the ads-on-all-pages bit and take the extra 30%, *but* I would test it on one page only first and see if I infact got more than 100% from that one page alone.
Its possible to be smartpriced by all the other pages if they are truly awful.

(In truth I probably wouldn't bother - I would leave it however it is right now and spend my time determining why this page does so well, and then try to duplicate it :))

Its possible to be smartpriced by all the other pages if they are truly awful.

I thought smartpricing was implemented account wide and not on individual pages.

Well, the theory goes that removing ads from pages that drastically underperform AND have a large amount of traffic boost overall ctr, and maybe smartpricing then increases epc. We have heard a lot of people saying that removing second and third ad blocks on a page that didn't work have earned them more more money - not less.

In my view, pages that get little traffic and don't do that well probably have no impact, so I'd be inclined to leave the ads in place for that extra 30%. However, if an ad block is getting as many, or more impressions as the best performers yet few clicks, then I would remove it.

So whilst smartpricing is (as far as we know) account wide, boosting the overall performance of the account may bring about an overall improvement in earnings.

I'm seeing about 33% the traffic on my "high CTR" pages, and 21% traffic on my "poor CTR" pages. (the other 46% is ok to below average).

Would this change anyones opinion? Would cutting 67% of my average to poor traffic make sense since 33% of my traffic is on my best pages?

(obviously I will work on getting more people to these pages)

Hubes

Having loads of people on a page doesn't mean they click - some pages ads just don't seem to work on, and over time I've removed ads from them.

Don't make the decision to remove ads on CTR alone - look at ALL the metrics available. Ecpm is useful in the decision, as is traffic flow. If an ad block is doing OK in some respects, it's probably worth keeping the ads on it. It's only where all metrics are pants, and you get a lot of impressions that the decision is a clear cut one.

However, if an ad block is getting as many, or more impressions as the best performers yet few clicks, then I would remove it.

You left unsaid the reason for removing the ads. ;)

I've experimented with removing hundreds of underperforming pages and it didn't make a difference. I even threw some YPN on it (received similar earnings). By experiment I mean leaving it on for several months then taking it off for several months, and comparing the results.

In the end the best solution for my situation was to make the ads more visible. Doubled the CTR. I'm not saying this is the solution for everyone. Only saying this worked well for me.

[.... I've experimented with removing hundreds of underperforming pages and it didn't make a difference....]

Same here.

I have a section generates about 30% of the total impressions, at a much lower CTR and EPC. I removed AS codes from this section, but it did not help on the overall CTR nor EPC, interesting.

I guess my real question is:

Will poor performing pages result in lower $/Click on the rest of your site (in particular, your good CTR pages)

That's truly what this boils down for me. As far as I'm concerned, anywhere I can get an ad click is worth it, regardless of CTR. Unless it's at the expense of my campaign.

Hubes

[...Will poor performing pages result in lower $/Click on the rest of your site (in particular, your good CTR pages) ...]

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In my case, there is no direct relationship.

[edited by: GoldenHammer at 9:00 am (utc) on Sep. 4, 2006]

Another factor: visitors. They might be happier to not see ads on every page.

I personally think that if ads are getting, say, hundreds of impressions on a page but no clicks over a week, I'm better off replacing them with something--maybe even an "ad" for content elsewhere in the site. Maybe people come to that page looking for something but don't find it. Maybe you've got some related information. Tell them about it.

I would try your #1. option for about 1 week. Remove all the ads from the low performing pages and leave only the ads on the one page that generates 75% of your revenues. In theory, you may (repeat MAY) see that one page generate even more since the lower performing pages may be dragging down your overall site revenue. If this is the case, leave only AS on that one page and replace the other pages with lower paying ad revenue programs. And definitely try to duplicate the success with that one page elsewhere on your site. You have to figure out why that one page is so successful before proceeding. I suspect the reason why that page is so high is probably due to how your visitors are landing on that page ie:referral traffic.

SHould I:

You want to do what? You want to take a 30% paycut? Sure sounds good to me. You take the pay cut and those nice paying ads go back to on the shelves at Google until they are displayed on my site.

There is enough talk about smartpricing on here to make anyone go nuts... but wasting time wondering weather one should take 30% off of one's bottom line and throw it away... takes the cake.

1) If you were making $10K a month, would you even ask the question about weather you should cut your earnings by $3000 a month? My guess... uhm no.

2) I have over a dozen sites with adsense on every page including one with over 1/2 milion pages that have the worst CTR... 0.0%... It still makes up to $50 a month on it and thats better than 0$ (no not mfa its kinda like dating site but...not) My other sites/pages are not affected by it at all. Even on that site I still get $2 clicks once in a while. My other sites earn me 4 digits a month.

3) And this one is real important.... You can't win the lottery unless you buy a ticket! (ticket=ads on page)

The pages that Dont't perform well are probably not getting visitors that are ready to click, or the ads are not targetted, or the ads are targetted but are just not worth much.

What you should be concentrating on is that one magical page that earns well... learn from it and try and duplicate it...then do it again... then do it again...

[edited by: mrSEman at 3:23 am (utc) on Sep. 5, 2006]

As far as having a single page that is a super performer, enjoy it and keep working on the rest of your site. Look carefully at the super performing page and apply lessons learned from it to more pages on your site if you can.

Will poor performing pages result in lower $/Click on the rest of your site (in particular, your good CTR pages)

Not in my experience.

As for removing low performining pages, I tried that with 100 pages or so and didn't see any benefit from it, so I put Adsense back on them and smile while spending the extra money.

One thing you might take away from this discussion is that what works on one site doesn't necessarily work on another.....